Module 5
THE HUMAN SOCIETY
THE NATURE OF HUMAN SOCIETY It is a new form of subsistence that uses bring about continuing progress in technology.
Human society human muscle power and hand-held tools to The hallmarks of this society are knowledge and
an organized and interdependent community of cultivate fields. information that is why one of the characteristics of this
people engaged in a number of role relationships and The basic industry of this society is fishing. society is the spread of computer technology.
pooled together through a system of communications 3. Pastoral or herding Societies.
geared towards unity. This society relies mainly on the PREMODERN SOCIETIES
System domestication of animals for food and clothing. In hunting and gathering societies, people do not
is used to represent human societies. These societies are organized along male- grow crops or keep livestock but gain their livelihood
an existence made up of interrelated parts that centered kinship groups. from gathering plants and hunting animals.
varies a great deal in the degree to which the functions 4. Agricultural Societies. Pastoral societies are those that raise domesticated
of the parts are coordinated with one another and with These societies are extensions of the animals as their major source of subsistence.
the functioning of the system as a whole. horticultural societies. Agrarian societies depend on the cultivation of fixed
Along with the domestication of animals is plots of land.
CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN SOCIETY the cultivation of soil. Larger, more developed, urban societies form
1. A social system. There are important features inherent in an traditional states or civilizations.
2. Relatively large. agricultural society.
3. Recruits most of its members from within. 1. Presence of a written language. SOCIETIES IN THE MODERN WORLD
4. Sustains itself across generation. 2. Existence of more permanent urban In industrialized societies, industrial production is the
5. Share a culture. centers. main basis of the economy. Industrialized countries
6. Occupies a territory. 3. Wars brought about by thirst for power include the nations of the West, plus Japan, Australia,
and control over territories. and New Zealand. They now include those industrialized
SYSTEM NEEDS OF HUMAN SOCIETY 5. Industrial societies. societies ruled by communist governments. The
1. Communication among its members. These societies are characterized by the developing world, in which most of the world's
2. There must be production and distribution of goods use of mechanical means of production and population lives is almost all formerly colonized areas.
and services to satisfy the physical and psychic needs of more importantly, an immense mobile, diversely The majority of the population works in agricultural
the members. specialized, highly skilled, and well-coordinated production, some of which is geared to world markets.
3. Protection of the members from threats posed by the labor force.
environment. There were two social classes that existed The Impact of Globalization
4. Members must be replaced. during the era of industrial societies: The increase in global communications and economic
5. There must be some means of control and regulation Labor force that produces the goods interdependence represents more than simply the
of behavior of the members. and services but has little, if any at ail, growth of world unity. Time and distance are being
6. Group direction. influence on what, is done with them; reorganized in ways that bring us all closer together, but
and even as globalization threatens to make all cultures seem
TYPES OF HUMAN SOCIETIES A much smaller class that determines alike, local cultural identifications are resurging around
1. Hunting and food gathering society. what shall be produced and how it will the world. This is seen in the rise of nationalism, which
The earliest form of human society. be distributed. can result in ethnic conflict as well as ethnic pride.
Their people survived by hunting wild animals and Characteristics of this society:
gathering vegetables. Kinship now plays a much smaller role
Tools and weapons are made up of woods, stone, in patterning public affairs
and sometimes bones. Industrial societies are highly
The important thing to note in this society is: their secularized
civilization may be primitive but they had discovered Bureaucracy: predominant form of
simple technologies that can give them living comforts. social and political organization in
2. Horticultural and fishing societies. industrial societies.
They discovered the possibility of planting and 6. Post-industrial Society.
taming animals. This society depends on the knowledge to